A N.C. Central University student died Tuesday night and a football player at the school who police said was driving a car that crossed the center line of N.C. 55 was hurt along with the driver of a second car.
Chekeria Renae Reid, a senior from Greensboro, died in the accident near Crete Street, according to police and a notice on the university’s website from NCCU Chancellor Debra Saunders-White.
Injured in the wreck was Tariq Jamal Jacobs, a sophomore hospitality and tourism major from Norfolk, Va. A member of the NCCU football team, Jacobs was being treated at Duke Hospital, and his condition was being withheld Wednesday.
Joshua Clark, 27, was driving a Chevrolet Cobalt going the opposite direction from a Honda Accord that Jacobs was driving, police said.
Police said speed appeared to have been a factor in the accident in which the southbound Accord crossed the center line.
Their investigation was continuing Wednesday.
“As our community begins to come to grips with this deep loss, we want to provide support to the Athletics Departments and all students, faculty and staff,” Saunders-White wrote. “Chekeria was known for being a hard worker, energetic, full of life and a young woman who always wore a smile.”
Reid was a team manager on two NCCU sports teams – football and women’s basketball. She majored in recreation administration with a concentration in sports management and a minor in business.
According to Reid’s web page, she was born and raised in Greensboro. She graduated from Western Guilford High School. Her dream was to attend graduate school and become a sports agent or a manager of game day operations with the NFL. It made sense that she majored in recreation administration.
“I chose this major because I have six brothers and was always around sports, not only watching them but also participating in them,” she wrote on her website. “Over my life I have grown to love everything about sports and I knew that it was the path that I wanted to go down.”
The university provided grief counselors Tuesday night at the student union. A memorial service for Reid will be held Wednesday at 4 p.m. on the football field in O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium.
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Twitter: @janestancill
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